Listen to Jim’s 4-minute audio podcast: https://youtu.be/0zTgM_
or read his words below:
EXCAVATING HOPE FROM THE RUINS OF FALLEN DREAMS
A scrawny pedestrian hikes the wilds of the chaos city.
He leans into the warmed-over breeze, backpack causing him to chug forward at slug pace.
He holds a very long unopened umbrella in his left hand, ever ready to draw it from ragged scabbard with right hand, should foe or prey appear.
Like a bow hunter, he darts his vision side to side, up and down, wary of feral surroundings in the downtown traffic.
As he passes by the old book store, I the proprietor observe him and wonder whether he’s ever read a book voluntarily, whether he has ever found pleasure in writing or ingesting inscribed paper thoughts. The scrawny man sideglances and acknowledges me, but maintains his errant pace.
Setting out the OPEN sign for morning customers, I look at the sky above old towers and wonder what else the day will bring.
Before I can re-enter the shop, another figure hobbles by, this time a ragtag woman walking gingerly in tiny steps as if her feet are bound, her heels forcing her to tread carefully. She, too, acknowledges me but sallies forth. Her elsewhere destination is everything.
I retreat to the security of my shop and await door chimes that will announce visitors.
Next to enter are curiosity shoppers who troll the stacks in wonder, pulling volumes both ancient and modern, touching them, experiencing the weight and textures that virtual hand-held devices don’t deliver.
It is as if the shoppers are re-discovering three-dimensional reality in stark contrast to the flat screen images dominating most waking moments.
Other browsers soon arrive, some finding comfort in the existence of books loved in childhood, others gawking and appreciating near-forgotten long-lost storybooks.
Researchers and scholars and wanderers fill the day and weave past passers-by on the way to coffee across the street, on their way to fair trade objects from afar at the shop next door. On their way with book in hand to unearth what else is worth seeing in the excavated ruins of the city.
The day is filled with stories told loudly by some, stories held close and monosyllabic by others, stories in the process of being created, stories spilling over and mingling with stories lying in wait within the books.
The scrawny hunter and the hobbled woman people my thoughts. In imagination unfettered, they mingle with my customers and enjoy their company. In imagination most hopeful, these explorers and warriors find peace and camaraderie with one another.
The stragglers of the city streets are my family, the browsers my foster children, the friends and strangers alike my motivators.
At end of day, I close shop and make journey homeward, part of me in need of rest and recoup, another part of me wondering with high expectation what tomorrow will bring, what Tomorrow People will be like, what adventures I will have with these real and imaginary wisps
© 2019 A.D. by Jim Reed